Cornemuse du Centre
Encyclopedia
The cornemuse du Centre France or musette du Centre is a type of bagpipe native to Central France. It has two drones, one an octave below, and the other two octaves below, the tonic of the chanter.
The drones consist of two pieces of wood (three for the larger drone) that telescope into one another to tune the instrument. The drones have single reeds. The chanter is equipped with a double reed of reed or plastic.
The chanter can be in a wide variety of keys, depending on its length:
instrument, on most modern instruments all semitones of the scale can be played.
The fingering of the chanter is usually semi-closed for high pitched instruments, which means that the fingers of the lower hand (which is usually the right hand) are placed on their holes when removing the fingers of the upper hand. Chanters of 20 inches or greater are generally played with open fingering.
Facture
The chanter can be in a wide variety of keys, depending on its length:
- 10 inches (Upper D)
- 11 inches (Upper C)
- 14 inches (A)
- 16 inches (G)
- 18 inches (F)
- 20 inches (D)
- 23 inches (C)
- 24 inches (A#)
- 26 inches (A)
- 30 inches (Lower G)
Playing
The cornemuse du centre is a chromaticChromatic scale
The chromatic scale is a musical scale with twelve pitches, each a semitone apart. On a modern piano or other equal-tempered instrument, all the half steps are the same size...
instrument, on most modern instruments all semitones of the scale can be played.
The fingering of the chanter is usually semi-closed for high pitched instruments, which means that the fingers of the lower hand (which is usually the right hand) are placed on their holes when removing the fingers of the upper hand. Chanters of 20 inches or greater are generally played with open fingering.